News
Venice Is Saved! Woe Is Venice.
Which Louisiana parishes have lost the most population? See the map here
Assignment
Slides for the class discussion – Lessons from the New Orleans Hurricane Cases
I have the videos and the corresponding PowerPoints of the lecture presentations on suing the federal government for money damages. You should read the materials and watch these before class. We will discuss them in class, which should be interesting for all of us. (Remember, the video was made from the PowerPoint deck. I am providing the deck as an alternative way of viewing the presentation.)
Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent litigation attempting to hold the United States responsible for the damages due to the levee breaches have become part of the mythology attempting to shift the blame for catastrophic flooding from bad local land-use decisions to the federal government’s failure to protect the communities which made those decisions. The starting point for understanding this law is the Constitutional and statutory standards for suing the United States for money damages for torts. This is governed by the Federal Tort Claims Act. This is an explanation of the FTCA that I have prepared for use in class:
Introduction to the Federal Tort Claims Act
This is the form for filing an FTCA claim. Review it so you understand the required information:
Form 95 – CLAIM FOR DAMAGE, INJURY, OR DEATH
Video – Suing the Federal Government: Sovereign Immunity and FTCA History
PowerPoint – Suing the Federal Government: Sovereign Immunity and FTCA History
Video – Filing an FTCA Claim
Narrated PowerPoint – Filing an FTCA Claim
The Discretionary Function Exception (DFE)
The DFE makes proving a case under the FTCA fundamentally different from a private tort case. The DFE is intended to protect government decision-making from collateral attack through tort litigation. It is the second malpractice trap for lawyers in the FTCA. As you will see, it goes against conventional torts jurisprudence, sheltering the government from liability for actions that would result in judgments and even punitive damages against private parties.
Video – Texas Department of Public Safety film of the aftermath of the Texas City Disaster
WWW sites – The Texas City Disaster. April 16, 1947 – Galveston News
Background for the Dalehite case in the reader.
Federal Tort Claims Act Reader
These are edited versions of the key cases setting out the construction of discretionary function exception in the FTCA.
Video – Federal Tort Claims Act – DFE
Narrated Powerpoints – Federal Tort Claims Act – DFE